We check in with people at each stage of the cash transfer process to see how things are going. Take a look at some of their stories as they appear here in real-time.
Learn more about how recipients opt in to share their stories.

Stages:

Enrollment

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Completed

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There is a really big difference in my current life compared to the life I lived for four months ago. My family is eating healthy and the hard manual jobs that I had been engaging in order to get money to meet the basic household needs has greatly reduced. I have been able to improve from my small maize selling business to a more advanced and profitable grocery business. This has consequently led to an improvement in the living standards of my family and me.

Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?

I have a new goal of constructing a new house in the next few months. I am planning to do this by continuously working hard especially in my merry-go-round contributions and adding it up with the returns from my small business that I have been running. This will enable me to purchase the construction materials and later on start the house construction process.

Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.

The biggest difference in my daily life that has happened over the last four months is my ability to consistently be part of a monthly merry-go-round contribution. The merry-go-round contribution has enabled me to acquire a loan amounting to KES 20000 which I used a part of it - KES 18000- to buy a dairy cow. I have been paying back the loan in bits every time I receive the GiveDirectly transfers. This is way too easy for me and also very convenient.

How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?

In the next six months, I shall have purchased at least three goats with the aim of later selling them and making enough money to enable me to buy construction materials and build a new house. It is my desire to be able to accumulate enough resources during this period that will see me being able to construct a new house.

15th Payment

Transfer Amount

2280 KES ($22 USD)

access_time 5 months ago

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How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?

Before we started receiving the transfer, taking goods on credit from a retail shop was almost impossible because there was no security of when and how one will pay back the goods. Right now, all the shopkeepers know that we get monthly transfers from GiveDirectly and they are able to give us the goods on credit without a hustle because they trust us that once the money hits our mobile accounts, we will pay them without any problem. Besides this, I no longer overwork myself with my business especially with my age now. I used to overwork while ensuring that I make enough money for that day's needs. I am grateful that Givediretly gave a helping hand and able to take enough time to rest well.

Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?

My new goal is to ensure that my farm is well developed and ensure that I use my land efficiently by ensuring I maximize its use. I want to ill and plant the idle part of the land.

Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.

The biggest difference in my daily life is that I now have a cow that I call my own. When we started receiving the transfer early last year, we decided to form a merry go round group with some of my fellow villagers where we encouraged ourselves to save some amount o the transfer every month and give the lumped amount to one member every month. We agreed that each and every member will do something worthwhile with the money and once I received the amount, I decided to buy a dairy cow for rearing. We majorly depend on selling milk as our main source of income here and so by buying an additional cow for our family, it means I will improve the amount of cash flow we will be getting once the cow gives birth. This will go along way in improving our financial status in our family.

How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?

My expectation in the next few months is to ensure that I have more sheep for rearing. I want to buy more sheep and once they reproduce and have a good number, I will be able to sell them and get a good amount of money that I am able to do a bigger project like building or improving my house. I also want to have improved my poultry project so that its able to help as another source of income by selling the eggs produced.

12th Payment

Transfer Amount

2280 KES ($23 USD)

access_time 8 months ago

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How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?

My life is currently different from how it was four months ago in that I devote all my time to my farm. I do farm tomatoes and vegetables and sell the produce at a nearby center to earn an income. Before I used to struggle so much doing odd jobs to get the money to pay school fees and even to buy food for my family but nowadays it is a different story altogether and I am so grateful for the support.

Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?

My new goals for my life for the next four months is to buy a dairy cow. I buy milk now and it is so costly for me and because I have children in school I find it hard. When I will have bought a dairy cow, I will be in a position to save the money that I could have used to buy milk to meet other additional family basic needs and even to pay school fees for my grandchildren.

Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.

The biggest difference in my daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer is that I pay school fees on time for my two grandchildren. Before, I could struggle so much to raise the money for school fees. I have a small business of groceries and I could use all the profit and even capital to pay their school fees and this was affecting business growth. This was affecting their performance in school because they could be sent home to collect school fees and it could demoralize them. But after I started receiving the transfer, I pay the school fees on time and my grandchildren are no longer being sent home for school fees. Their performance in school has improved. The school principal nowadays do not send them home because he is aware that I do pay on time after getting the transfer. I am so happy and I have devoted all my time on my farm I no longer do hard jobs to raise the money.

How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?

I expect my life to change in the next six month in that I will have bought a dairy cow and I will be saving the money to pay school fees and even to buy other basic household needs for my family. I will have expanded my horticulture farming and selling the produce to earn extra money. Thanks to GiveDirectly for a wise decision it has really changed our lives.

7th Payment

Transfer Amount

2280 KES ($23 USD)

access_time 1 year ago

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How is your life currently different from how it was four months ago?

My life currently is different since I have been able to join merry go round group which I was not in before and I do not take debts at the shop anymore since I now days have money to buy whatever I need.

Do you have any new or additional goals for your life for the next four months?

The new goal I now have is to buy a cow since I do not have any.

Describe the biggest difference in your daily life in the last four months preceding the current transfer.

The biggest difference in my daily life is happiness since I do not have any debts at the shop anymore.

How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?

I expect my life to change in that I will have bought a cow and my family will also be feeding well.

Initial Payment

Transfer Amount

2280 KES ($23 USD)

access_time over 1 year ago

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Do you have any new goals that you didn't have before receiving the transfer?

I want to do large scale poultry farming so that i can increase the amount of income i get. I also plan to have dairy cow that .

How is your life different than it would have been if you never received the transfer?

We have formed and joined a merry go round with fellow women in the village, i wont have joined one were it not for the transfers because we are assured of monthly transfers,.

How do you expect your life to change in the next six months?

I expect that in the next six months, i would be living healthy because i will be relaxed and have more than one income, therefore i wont be overworking myself myself especially now that i am getting old.

Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.

We used to live with chicken in the same house, when i received the money i built a chicken house and i now live with comfort.II no need to overwork myself around because at least i have an extra income that helps substitutes the small sources i have.

Enrolled

access_time over 1 year ago

What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?

My biggest hardship i faced in life is when my kids were in school and my resources depleted hence i had to struggle more so as to keep my kids in school

What is the happiest part of your day?

The happiest part of my day is in the evening when am done selling my maize and i have gotten good sales

What are you planning to spend your transfer on?

I plan to start a dairy farming business with my transfer

What is the achievement you are proudest of?

My greatest achievement which am proud of is that i have bought a piece of land which has made me more happy beacause i did settled my children at that piece of land